Archives for July 2008
Carthage
Some facts and figures regarding the ancient city of Carthage (somewhere in present-day Tunisia), 814-146 BC, roughly 2,500 years ago:
A population of 500,000 in a relatively small area, making it one of the largest cities in pre-industrial history
Buildings made of stone
Six-storey apartments
Running water and a sewerage system conceptually not very different from ours’ today
An ingeniously […]
The World Is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
Apparently this book, in the author’s own words, has spawned a “cottage industry of articles with variations on the title ‘The World Is Not Flat’”. Well, saying the world is flat is definitely a provocative assertion. Mr. Friedman is putting forth that we are now entering an era of a new kind of globalization, what […]
Measuring the Greatness of Programmers
What makes a great programmer?
In essence, a great programmer consistently writes good code, fast. Ok, begging the question. Good code is flexible, structured, configurable, succinct, easy to maintain, and free of obvious bugs. (As no one is perfect, no code produced by one person can be completely bug-free).
So that’s the definition. How to measure the […]
Free Colouring Pages
No money to buy colouring books for your child? Go to Sesame Workshop Coloring Pages. But I’m sure I don’t need to tell you to print them out at home and not at the office.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
Jim Collins presents his findings on how some companies are able to transform themselves from mediocrity to sustained greatness. The following is not a summary of his book but excerpts that I find most interesting and relevant.
Chapter 1: Good is the Enemy of Great
The good-to-great companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people, or […]